Alec Martinez stole the show on his debut as the Vegas Golden Knights continued their hot streak by beating the Tampa Bay Lightning 5-3 on Thursday night.
Martinez, who was acquired in a trade from the LA Kings on Wednesday, recorded a goal and an assist as the Vegas Golden Knights ended the Lightning’s 11-game win streak.
It was a stunning victory for the Knights who are now riding a four-game win streak and they are perfect on this homestand so far.
As has been the case for much of the year, however, it wasn’t a great start for Vegas as Kevin Shattenkirk joined the rush before deflecting a pass off a defenseman and into the net.
That woke the Golden Knights up and it was the new boy who made an immediate impact as Alec Martinez one-timed a rebound past Andrei Vasilevskiy to make it a tied game.
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Paul Stastny recorded his 17th goal of the year in the second period to give Vegas the lead, but Steven Stamkos hammered home a touch pass from Victor Hedman on the power play to make it a tied game.
It was all Vegas from that point on, though, as Mark Stone took a dish from Max Pacioretty before beating Vasilevskiy on his backhand.
And the Knights delivered an almighty gut punch to the Lightning just 10 seconds into the third period as Ryan Reaves forced a turnover from the faceoff before ripping a shot past Vasilevskiy.
Max Pacioretty then effectively iced the game with a power play goal, before Stamkos tallied his second goal of the night on the man advantage.
It was a statement win from the Vegas Golden Knights who are really starting to hit their stride, and we had some takeaways from the game…